{"id":48,"date":"2011-04-25T14:51:58","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T14:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/gisozi-memorial-site-voices-of-the-past\/"},"modified":"2011-04-22T07:45:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-22T07:45:18","slug":"gisozi-memorial-site-voices-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/gisozi-memorial-site-voices-of-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Gisozi Memorial Site: Voices of the past immortalised"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overlooking the terraces of Kigali lies a long stretch of road that leads from Gisozi<\/span> to the Rwandan genocide memorial. As you walk along this road, you can feel the atmosphere in the air change. As you get closer to the gates, the sounds of the busy streets of Kigali begin to slowly drown out, and all you hear are the rustling of the leaves. Once you enter the gates, the first thing you notice as you start to descend the polished tiled steps is the torch carrying the eternal flame burning bright, reminding everyone who walks through, that this is not a tourist attraction but a memorial site.<\/p>\n

The memorial was officially opened on the 10th<\/span> anniversary of the Rwandan genocide on the 7 April 2004 genocide, a burial site built to honour<\/span> the 250,000 Tutsi\u2019s who were killed during the genocide. The planning and management was handled by the UK based charity organisation<\/span> known as Aegis trust in collaboration with the Kigali High Council.<\/p>\n

Aegis which signifies \u2018shield\u2019 or \u2018trust\u2019 is an organisation<\/span> which campaigns against crimes against humanity and genocide, which was established in 2000, their activities include research, policy, education, remembrance, media work and campaigns involving humanitarian support for victims.<\/p>\n

The memorial comprises of a main historical exhibition, a Children\u2019s Memorial exhibition and an exhibition on comparative genocide, called Wasted Lives. It also has over four acres of memorial gardens containing ten mass graves, as well as, the National Genocide Documentation Centre.<\/p>\n

 The majestic principal building has been structured by design to represent three different eras : before the genocide, during and after the genocide. The main building has three exhibitions, the first room entitled, \u2018Our history\u2019, introduces the world to the history of Rwanda with huge pictures showing people of all ages, depicting the cultural lifestyle of Rwanda before the genocide, women breastfeeding their children, old men playing traditional games, different hairstyles, attire and even an almost life-sized picture of Rwandan King Yuhi<\/span> V Musinga<\/span> standing tall and proud. Alongside these pictures is a stanza quoting, \u2018this is about our past and our future, our nightmares and our dreams, our fear and our hope, which is why we begin where we end, with the country we love.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

As you are guided from one showroom to the next, through a series of corridors lined with millions of short notes with detailed information, there is a feeling of going on a real journey through time, as though experiencing the genocide through your own eyes. Original and unedited videos of people being massacred, testimonies of survivors and perpetrators, Gacaca<\/span> court proceedings are mounted on walls. Alongside them is a timeline of pictures of Rwanda\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

From \u2018Our history\u2019 room, you are then lead to a room entitled \u2018Descent to Genocide\u2019 a dimly lit room full of graphic pictures of bones and dead bodies from all over Rwanda. On one side of the wall stands a 3ft<\/span> image of a mass grave at Kigali\u2019s Saint Famille<\/span>, where over 30,000 people were burnt alive, with detailed information of how Rwandans priests, who were meant to be custodians, were responsible for the massacre of millions of Tutsi\u2019s, who had sought refuge in their churches.<\/p>\n

You walk on as if turning the next page in a storybook, eager to reach the part where the criminal is caught and is forced to face justice, thinking that the worst is over, till you reach the room entitled \u2018After the Genocide\u2019,. Before you even cross over, the word \u2018Reactions\u2019 is emblazoned in huge capital letters. There is a picture worth a thousand words, a scene where thousands of children are gathered together all staring into the camera, all orphans.<\/p>\n

This leads to a circular corridor where a famous artist, Ardyn<\/span> Halter, has created two stained glass windows, which not only shows, a link between the survivors of the holocaust and Rwanda, but a link between the beginning of the genocide with skulls craved at the bottom to the top that implies a new Rwanda looking to the future.<\/p>\n

There are rooms where people have put pictures of their loved ones, a room dedicated to children who perished in the genocide with a quote reading \u201cwe did not make ourselves orphans\u201d. At the end of the tour, you enter into the beautiful and intricate memorial gardens.<\/p>\n

The gardens have fountains and waterfalls with a rose garden, where each rose represents a loved one lost now blossoming in our bright future. The gardens were put up in such a way that people could sit outside in reflection. A sense of calm and peace suddenly grips as you walk through the gardens. A sense of hope for the future, everywhere is green, everything is budding as though each leaf represents a new and brighter future, which lastly leads you to the documentation centre<\/span> which actually is the best part of the tour.<\/p>\n

The centre<\/span> is a place where many of the youth come together to debate, learn, acquire knowledge, and deal with issues on how they can help prevent Genocides<\/span> like Rwanda\u2019s from happening again, here at home as well as abroad. The best and most important part about the memorial is the programmes<\/span> it is establishing for all to benefit from the development centre<\/span> basing its main objective on reconciliation and unity. Indeed this is a place where those unfortunate souls can lay in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n

Besides the Gisozi<\/span> Memorial Centre, there are over 200 genocide sites in Rwanda marking the places where nearly a million people were murdered. It is hoped that Rwanda would develop seven key sites into meaningful memorial centres<\/span> including [Murambi<\/span>->http:\/\/www.kigalimemorialcentre.org\/old\/centre\/other\/murambi.html], [Nyamata<\/span>->http:\/\/www.kigalimemorialcentre.org\/old\/centre\/other\/nymata.html], [Ntarama<\/span>->http:\/\/www.kigalimemorialcentre.org\/old\/centre\/other\/ntarama.html], [Bisesero<\/span>->http:\/\/www.kigalimemorialcentre.org\/old\/centre\/other\/bise.html], [Nyanza<\/span>->http:\/\/www.kigalimemorialcentre.org\/old\/centre\/other\/nyanza.html] and [Nyarabuye<\/span>->http:\/\/www.kigalimemorialcentre.org\/old\/centre\/other\/nyarabuye.html].<\/p>\n

As the memorial centre\u2019s<\/span> management aptly states, \u201cthese are everyone\u2019s places as much as Rwanda\u2019s. They should remain as a warning for future generations, both in Rwanda and in the rest of the world about the consequences of hatred and division. \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overlooking the terraces of Kigali lies a long stretch of road that leads from Gisozi to the Rwandan genocide memorial. As you walk along this road, you can feel the atmosphere in the air change. As you get closer to the gates, the sounds of the busy streets of Kigali begin to slowly drown out, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"byline":[274],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","byline-fiona-gasana"],"bylines":[{"id":274,"name":"Fiona Gasana","slug":"fiona-gasana","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":274,"name":"Fiona Gasana","slug":"fiona-gasana","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}